Vicissitude and Petrichor
by SilverGlasses13
Summary: What if someone special to you went away and came back after 5 years? How will you act and what will you do? That's exactly what Haruno Sakura was asking herself upon the return of her childhood friend Uchiha Sasuke who, upon returning back, found himself facing a different Sakura. But why is she musing over her thoughts? Are her suppressed feelings coming back? AU


**A/N: Ohh yeaaaah another Naruto fanfic, my lovely bumblebees! :)**

**This idea came into my head when I was searching for some Naruto fanfics and I thought I should give it a try. As said in the summary, this is an AU fanfic, with our favorite shinobi as High School students.**

**Oh, and the main pairing is SasuSaku, with the minor pairings as ShikaIno (hell yeah! :D), NejiTen and NaruHina.**

**There might be times where there are many ShikaIno and SasuSaku moments than NejiTen and NaruHina since they are my forte but I'll still add some NejiTen and NaruHina scenes. :)**

**Now enough ranting. Let me introduce you to my first multichapter story. Tell me what you think. :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I SO OWN NARUTO AND NO ONE CAN CLAIM IT FROM ME. NO ONE! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! NOOOOOO ONNNEEEEEE! MWAHAHAHA -_was shot-_**

**PROLOGUE**

* * *

A lone girl no older than 11 sat on an empty swing at the empty playground, leaning against the rails with her head bowed down as she swung a little.

A soft breeze blew, making the pink strands from her face part for a while as the sun shone on the girl's tear streaked face. It was an expression not fit for a child to don and anyone who would've passed by her would immediately try and comfort her.

But the little girl was far from being comforted, oh no. The sadness in her heart was so big it almost tore her apart. For a moment she stopped swinging. Then a voice, faint as the wind that no one might hear, spoke to utter a single name.

"Sasuke-kun . . ."

Then she bit her lip but not even that can stop the heart-wrenching sobs that racked through her body, not even that big hand that weighed down on her shoulder, nor that warm, sympathetic voice that followed.

"Sakura-chan, don't cry."

Said girl hiccupped as a new wave of tears overcame her.

"B-but, _hic _Kakashi-sensei," she began, "Sasuke _hic _kun is n-not coming _hic _back. He's _hic _l-l-leaving us. . ."

A soft, sad sigh came from the older man as he crouched down in front of Sakura. He uncomfortably crouched there for a moment, not used to the sight of a crying female in front of him. He scratched his messy, gravity-defying, silver (yes, silver, and not grey as most people would like to think. Kakashi doesn't want himself to be equated to capital O-L-D) hair, then, his eyes warming, reached up and ruffled his student's hair gently.

"Sakura."

Reluctantly, she complied. When her sensei uses that tone, she knew he meant business.

"Listen to me. This is not the end of the world. Just don't stand there staring at his retreating back like a gaping fish. Sasuke often called you annoying and weak, didn't he? Then use that as leverage, Sakura, use that as a stepping stone, a motivation to prove to him that you are _**not**_ in the slightest, weak. So that when he comes back, he'll regret ever leaving you and Naruto. You got me?"

Sakura sniffled as she rubbed an eye. "B-but Kakashi _hic _sensei, S-S-Sasuke-kun's not _hic _c-coming back . . ."

Kakashi ruffled her hair again as his lone eye creased. "You must understand that forever is such a long time, Sakura. There's a lot of time for him to consider going back to Konoha."

Sakura merely stayed silent.

Suddenly, a roaring noise overhead caused them to look up at the sky, where a plane was visible, soaring across towards the east. Kakashi quickly looked at Sakura again and was not surprised to see that her eyes began watering up again. Thinking quickly, he rose to his full height and bowed his head down so he could look Sakura in the eye.

"Yo, Sakura!"

Sakura leaned back in the swing with a surprised swing and toppled down to the ground, eliciting a sheepish chuckle from the silver-haired teacher and a grumble from his pink-haired student.

"Mou, that hurts! Kakashi-sensei, what was that for?!" Sakura asked, rubbing her backside as she shot an attempted death glare at her sensei.

Kakashi only gave her an eye crease and ruffled her hair, causing his student to shout in protest. "Maa, Sakura-chan, how would you like a bowl of ramen?"

Sakura blinked at the unexpected change of topic then sighed. "Maybe not now, sensei."

"C'mon, it would be fun!"

"What fun is there in eating ramen?"

"Ooh, don't let Naruto hear you say that, Sakura."

"That's not the point, sensei."

"So, what do you say?"

"No."

"I suggest you reconsider your choice, Sakura-chan. You know I _**rarely **_treat someone to ramen."

"So you're gonna treat me to ramen?

"Yeah."

At this, Sakura paused and did sifted the pros and cons. She narrowed her eyes at her sensei. "Sensei, what are you planning?"

"Hm?" Kakashi said nonchalantly as he whipped a familiar orange book from his back pocket and began to devour the pages with his eyes. _**Oh nothing, **_Kakashi thought, _**Except for dragging you back to sanity, Sakura.**_

Sakura sighed then crossed her arms. Her sensei was right after all. He never volunteered to pay for their ramen (as much as Naruto is concerned, though) many times before and it was as rare as a total solar eclipse.

"You're gonna pay for ramen?" she asked.

"Yeah." Kakashi replied.

"No kidding?"

"Yeah."

"You promise?"

"Yeah."

"Are you really sure about that?"

"Yeah."

"Anything that I eat?"

"Yeah."

"For real?"

"Yeah."

"Are you kidding?"

"Ye- NO!"

And with that, a fraction of the sadness that was encased in Sakura's eyes had been lifted, and Kakashi swore that he saw a ghost of a smile flicker across her face for a second.

"How about Naruto?" she asked. The blond hyperactive boy was in the airport, trying to convince Sasuke not to leave but judging by how long he was there, Sakura could point out that either Sasuke has gone on and Naruto was depressed or the latter was still convincing the former.

"Naruto's still not here yet so I'll be treating you first," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Sakura sighed as she quietly stood up, steadying herself against the swing rails. Then she narrowed her eyes at her sensei, before walking out of the playground.

Kakashi chuckled and followed her and into the chain of restaurants and food stands nearby.

Once they got out of the gates, Kakashi's creased eye opened and stared at his student's pink hair.

_**Even if we had to drag you out of you depression, Sakura, I swear we would, **_Kakashi thought, _**It wouldn't be a smooth ride but you're a strong girl. We know you can handle this. I know. Even if it will be a long journey.**_


End file.
